Samsung Televisions Recommended Policy Options for New Zealand, General Policy Recommendations

MEPS − Televisions April 2005

11 Recommended Policy Options for New Zealand

11.1General Policy Recommendations

Energy consumption of TVs in New Zealand is estimated to be 320 GWh, or around 5% of total household use. This is approximately 40% of the annual increase in energy required by New Zealand each year. The countries of origin for the TVs we import are implementing either mandatory or voluntary policies to improve the efficiency of this growing form of energy consumption.

In particular Australia originally aimed to introduce a combined MEPS/labelling scheme by 2006. However recent stakeholder feedback in Australia opposed mandatory labelling, and it is unlikely to proceed, although voluntary labelling and MEPS will still go ahead.

It would be advisable to keep our alignment with Australia, and it is recommended that New Zealand introduce a similar scheme to whatever is finally agreed to in Australia. MEPS and comparative labelling is still a viable option with only voluntary labelling. It will be necessary to rely on the competitive nature of the market to exclude products that don’t comply with MEPS.

11.2MEPS

A MEPS for televisions in New Zealand should be implemented in tandem with Australia. Consultation with the importers and major retailers will be necessary to ensure that there is no undue resistance to the scheme, to maximise compliance and adherence to the principles of the scheme.

The MEPS should cover both on-mode and standby energy consumption. The setting of MEPS levels should be designed initially, as in Australia to encourage the removal of the 30% of worst performing TVs from the marketplace, and to match the best practice levels of our product source countries. The correlation between energy efficiency indices for TVs and any labelling scheme needs to be decided on in consultation with Australia.

The Australians already have an Australian Standards Committee TE 1 which may act as the vehicle to implement the MEPS scheme. New Zealand would have to investigate representation and integration of its policies with the work of that committee.

11.3Labelling Scheme

The comparative labelling scheme proposed by Australia would follow the six-star energy rating system based on the EU model. The purpose of such a label is to allow the consumer to compare a TV within a particular technology (e.g. widescreen, SDTV, HDTV) and screen type (e.g. CRT, LCD, plasma). Alternatively labels could be developed that merely compared all technologies/screen types although this would be less useful. Considerable work is needed to identify reference TV values, and levels of energy use for various star ratings.

It is not recommended that New Zealand do other than monitor this work, together with Australia.

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A study produced for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority by

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